Drink driver bamboozled by sat nav
MOBILE hairdresser Gemma Banks blamed her Audi TT's sat nav system for her wrong-way travel along a one-way street which brought her a driving ban.
When 26-year-old Banks appeared before magistrates in Harrogate last Thursday to plead guilty to drink-driving, the court heard she had come to the attention of a police patrol which had seen her car going against the traffic flow in the town's Montpellier Road.
Her solicitor Geoffrey Rogers said the reason was that Banks, in Harrogate for a hen night, followed the directions of her satellite navigation system which sent her that way. ''She simply complied,'' he said.
Banks, of Drake's Croft, Ashton-on-Ribble, Preston, had not intended to drive at all. She and a group of friends had booked into a hotel, close to where she was arrested, before going out drinking. After going to two pubs and a nightclub Banks had been contacted by her brother who told her their father had been taken ''quite seriously ill.'' So at 1am on February 28 she packed her bags and set off for home.
Mr Rogers said while Banks hoped to be able to still make a go of her mobile hairdressing concern, she would find it difficult to visit clients without a driving licence and might have to give the business up.
Prosecutor Sam Rogers said tests had shown Banks to be four micrograms of alcohol short of twice the limit.
Banks was fined 200 with 85 costs, a 15 victim surcharge and an 18-month driving ban.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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